Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER presents an interesting asymmetry: a top-tier 16-core processor from 2022 driving a mid-range graphics card from 2019. The benchmark data for Lockdown Protocol, a 2024 FPS title, shows exactly how this pairing behaves across resolutions and presets. The results are dictated almost entirely by the GPU, with the CPU providing ample headroom that never becomes the limiting factor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination delivers a wide performance envelope. On Low settings, the average frame rate is 124.6 FPS, which is exceptionally fluid for competitive play. Medium settings reduce this to 86 FPS, still a very strong result. High settings produce an average of 77.2 FPS, comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold. The most demanding preset, Ultra, drops to 54.6 FPS, which is below the playable threshold of 60 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a performance reduction of roughly 56%, indicating that the visual feature set at Ultra carries a significant cost for this GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decline predictably. Low settings average 90.1 FPS, which remains excellent. Medium settings hold at 65.4 FPS, just above the 60 FPS line. High settings average 59.1 FPS, a marginal miss of the threshold, while Ultra falls to 44.1 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at each preset costs between 20% and 30% of the frame rate, which is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario where pixel count directly impacts throughput.

At 3840x2160, the card is clearly overextended. Low settings average 55.7 FPS, narrowly missing 60 FPS. Medium drops to 43.7 FPS, High to 33.9 FPS, and Ultra to 26 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is striking: Ultra runs at less than half the speed of Low. No preset at this resolution reaches the playable threshold, and the data shows a steep cliff as settings increase. The recorded min and max FPS values are not available in this dataset, so the analysis relies on averages, which are sufficient to establish the clear trends.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Intel Core i7-13700K sits in the 89th percentile of all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 46881. Its closest rivals in the database are all AMD or Intel workstation parts. The AMD Ryzen 9 5900 scores 46971, which is a negligible 0.2% difference. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 scores 47022, also 0.3% ahead. The AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX and Intel Xeon w3-2535 both score nearly identically at 46654 and 46653 respectively, each about 0.5% behind. For Lockdown Protocol, any of these CPUs would deliver essentially identical frame rates, as the game appears to be far more dependent on the graphics card.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER sits in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 12986. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile at 12940 (0.4% slower), the AMD Radeon RX 580 at 12928 (0.4% slower), and the AMD Radeon 740M at 12870 (0.9% slower). The NVIDIA Tesla M2090 scores 13075, which is 0.7% faster, though it is a compute-oriented card unlikely to be used for gaming. In practical terms, swapping the GTX 1660 SUPER for any of these rivals would not move the needle by more than a few frames in Lockdown Protocol. The RX 580 is the most plausible alternative for a desktop gamer, and the data suggests it would produce nearly identical results.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data leaves little room for ambiguity about which component matters more. The i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz and a substantial 30 MB of L3 cache. Its benchmarks are formidable: 30745 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2529 in Geekbench single-core. The GTX 1660 SUPER, by contrast, has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, 1408 shading units, and a memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The FPS scaling between resolutions tells the story: moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces frame rates by roughly 20-25%, and moving from 1440p to 4K reduces them by another 40-50%. This is exactly what one expects when the GPU is the bottleneck.

The CPU's role becomes evident in the setting scaling at a fixed resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 70 FPS (from 124.6 down to 54.6). At 1440p, that same spread is 46 FPS (from 90.1 down to 44.1). At 4K, the spread is 29.7 FPS (from 55.7 down to 26). As resolution increases, the absolute frame rate differences between presets shrink, because the GPU is already saturated by pixel throughput. The CPU is never the limiting factor here; even at 1080p Low with 124.6 FPS, the i7-13700K has demonstrated in its benchmarks that it can feed far faster GPUs. The game is fundamentally GPU-bound for this pairing across all tested settings.

The Verdict

Can this PC run Lockdown Protocol? The answer depends entirely on the target resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the system is playable at High settings with an average of 77.2 FPS, and it can stretch to 124.6 FPS on Low. The Ultra preset at 54.6 FPS falls just short of the 60 FPS threshold, so it is not recommended for smooth play. At 2560x1440, the playable settings are Low at 90.1 FPS and Medium at 65.4 FPS. High at 59.1 FPS misses the threshold by less than one frame per second, which is borderline. At 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS; the best result is Low at 55.7 FPS, which is technically below the playable mark. The verdict is clear: 1080p High is the sweet spot, 1440p Medium is viable, and 4K is not playable at any setting.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER ranks 3156 out of 3714 combos. That places it in the lower third of all systems tested. This ranking reflects the GPU's position: the GTX 1660 SUPER is in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, meaning roughly half of all tested graphics cards outperform it. The CPU is in the 89th percentile, but that advantage does not translate into a high combo rank because the GPU holds the system back. A system with a weaker CPU but a stronger GPU would rank higher in this game, confirming that Lockdown Protocol rewards graphics horsepower over processor cores.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Lockdown Protocol at 1080p with high settings?

A: Yes. The measured average frame rate at 1920x1080 with High settings is 77.2 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS threshold with a comfortable margin.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1440p?

A: Medium settings at 2560x1440 produce an average of 65.4 FPS, making it the most demanding preset that stays above 60 FPS. High settings at 59.1 FPS just miss the threshold.

Q: Is 4K gaming possible with this hardware?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the highest average frame rate is 55.7 FPS on Low settings, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. All other presets are significantly lower.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its nearest GPU rival?

A: The closest competitor is the AMD Radeon RX 580, which scores 12928 in the database versus the GTX 1660 SUPER's 12986. The difference is 0.4%, meaning in-game performance would be nearly identical.

Q: Is the i7-13700K overkill for this GPU in this game?

A: The benchmark data suggests so. The CPU ranks in the 89th percentile of all processors, while the GPU ranks in the 53rd percentile. The frame rates are consistently GPU-limited across all resolutions and presets.

Q: What frame rate can be expected at 1080p on Low settings?

A: The average is 124.6 FPS, which is the highest recorded result for this combination in the dataset. This would be well-suited for high refresh rate monitors.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the best preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is High, with an average of 77.2 FPS. This provides a good balance of visual quality and performance headroom.

At 2560x1440, the best playable preset is Medium, with an average of 65.4 FPS. This is the highest quality setting that reliably clears the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS, so there is no recommended setting. The best recorded result is Low at 55.7 FPS, but this still falls short of the playable threshold, and the database marks this resolution as unplayable for this combination.